The present invention relates to the determination of a bit rate in a communication device. Especially, but not necessarily, the invention relates to the determination of a bit rate in a communication device intended for a third-generation mobile network.
Commercial communication networks, and cellular radio networks in particular, have grown strongly in popularity during recent years. This growth is at least partly due to the increase in the number of services provided and the improvement in the quality of the communication networks. At first, cellular radio networks were designed primarily to support speech transmission. However they already provide, or will provide in the near future, many other services, such as short messaging, image messaging and multimedia services, as well as services which provide access to the Internet. Some of these new services place more stringent requirements than usual on the network, for example, with regard to the data transmission rate of the network.
International Patent Application WO 00/33592 describes a system that provides the user of a mobile station in cellular radio network with a forecast of the bit rate the network would probably be able to provide for a connection if the user established the connection from his/her current location. The expected bit rate is determined on the basis of the quality of the signal received by the mobile station and the data transmission properties of the mobile station and base station.
The method described in International Patent Application WO 00/33592 provides only an expected bit rate. It does not provide real-time or up-to-date information about the actual bit rate achieved in an already existing connection between the communication device and the network.